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The Good, the Bad, and the Uncertain: Implications for local government in resource management reform
The Natural Environment Bill (NEB) and Planning Bill (PB) (together, Bills) had their First Reading on 16 December and have been referred to the Environment Select Committee, with submissions closing on 13 February 2026. The Government intends the Bills to become law in mid-2026.
As the dust settles on the release of the Bills, this article discusses some of the important implications for local government. We summarised the Bills at a high level in our previous article. That article explains the split of the two bills, functions within the new system, the transition to the new regime, and timing for implementation.
This article provides a closer look at some of the important elements of the Bills through a local government lens:[1]
- The new system architecture and its implementation;
- Enforcement tools;
- Regulatory relief;
- Effects that are excluded and the assessment of effects in a limited ‘environment’;
- Implications of significantly more permitted activities; and
- A lack of clarity in the notification provisions.
Special thanks to Charlie Sleigh and Ben Russell for their assistance in writing this article.
Read our other article in the series: Building the Future: How RMA Reform will shape New Zealand’s infrastructure
Read the RMA Reform article
[1] If you wish to know more about:
- consent duration extensions, designations, and the implications of the reforms for infrastructure, those are dealt with in this article;
- private plan changes, consents that change a plan, the new Planning Tribunal, and implications for urban development those are dealt with in our article focused on urban development we will be publishing in early 2026.
